Squash legend Roshan Khan passes away

On April 30th, 1984 the NY Times wrote "ANOTHER KHAN IS SEEKING SQUASH RACQUETS TITLE". See the Khan family tree here.

They were talking about Jahangir Khan, the 20yr old emerging squash legend from Pakistan and son of the legendary Roshan Khan, one of the pioneers of the game of squash in Pakistan, who has died in Karachi at the age of 78.

Roshan Khan first rose to international prominence when he won the British Open in 1957, following up with three wins in the US Open.

Jahangir Khan became the youngest champion in the World at age 17 beating Geoff Hunt of Australia in 1981. That game marked the start of a streak of more than 500 unbeaten games over 5 years! Probably the best in any sport till date. Jahangir won the famed British Open ten straight years from 1982 to 1991. Towards the later part of the eighties, another Pakistani player had hit the headlines- he was Jansher Khan. Jansher Khan, though unrelated to Jahangir, was a top notch squash player who went on to capture the World Open 8 times and the British Open 6 times in his career.

Most of Pakistan's foremost squash players have come out of a small village called Noakili, close to the Pakistan Air Force Base in Peshawar, and have mostly come from very poor back grounds. It was their passion for the game that took them to unsurpassed heights in the game.

Peter Nicol, the English squash champ is the current World No.1.